System for indicating the position of a surgical probe within a head on an image of the head

ABSTRACT

The system for determining a position of a probe relative to an object such as a head of a body patient. The head includes a surface such as a forehead having a contour. The head is placed in a cradle equipped with an arc. The cross-sectional images of the head are determined relative to the arc. A hand-held unit optically scans the forehead and the arc. During scanning to generate the cross-sectional images, the optical scanner is used to determine the position of the forehead relative to the cradle. During surgery, the optical scanner also determines the position of the forehead relative to a base ring. An array for receiving radiation emitted from the probe and from the base ring generates signals indicating the position of the tip of the probe relative to the base ring. A stereotactic imaging system selects and display the image of the head closest to the measured position of the tip of the probe.



